Virginia Heads to NCAA ChampionshipsMen's and women's squads to compete on Monday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Virginia cross country team heads to Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday to compete in the final race of the season, the 2008 NCAA Championships. The race will be held at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course, located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, which was the site of the Pre-NCAA meet earlier this season.

The Cavalier men ran a tight race together at pre-nationals, crossing all five scorers within 30 seconds of each other to take sixth in the Men’s 8k White Race. This weekend, the race will be extended to 10k and will feature 31 teams.

At last year’s NCAA Championships, also held in Terre Haute, the men put together a 12th-place finish, the highest for the program since 1985. Virginia was the first ACC squad to complete the race and will return five competitors to this seasons championship, including All-American Emil Heineking and the 2008 ACC Individual Champion Ryan Foster.

The women, coming off an impressive win at the NCAA Southeast Regional, return to NCAAs after missing a bid to the championships last year. Former Cavalier Emily Harrison represented Virginia’s women, finishing sixth. The Cavalier women’s last appearance at the national meet was in 2006, where they claimed 14th overall.

At the Pre-NCAA meet earlier this season, the women finished 23rd in the Women’s 6k White Race, but have improved since then, and entered the national rankings at No. 28 this week.

Championship races are set to begin at 12:08 p.m. on Saturday, with the women toeing the line first and the men following at 12:48 p.m. Both races will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports Network and streamed online via NCAA.com.